Happy Halloween everyone – spooky season begins this month at Walt Disney World!

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday, and no one does Halloweentime like Disney. But with Disney Parks operating both Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida, I bet you are wondering what each park does to celebrate the season and if there is a better choice. I have been lucky to visit both Disneyland and Walt Disney World during Halloweentime within the last few years and experienced both their daytime regular operations and their respective park exclusive after-hours events.

Halloweentime at Disney During Normal Operating Hours

From August to October both Disneyland and Walt Disney World decorations that are mostly fall themed with bunting, leaves, mickey pumpkins or character pumpkins, some photo ops or PhotoPass areas, and new food and drink items at some of the restaurants and quick service spots. From August to January, Jack Skellington takes over the Haunted Mansion for his take on Christmas with Haunted Mansion Holiday. This, however, will not be returning in 2024 as the Disneyland Haunted Mansion is currently undergoing some new renovations (hopefully back for 2025!). Disneyland Park will also show their Halloween fireworks show, Halloween Screams, without needing a ticket to an after-hours event. One thing I will note is that after Labor Day, Disneyland Resort does not do fireworks during the week. They will, however, have the shows with projections only.

Disney’s After-Hours Halloween Events

Oogie Boogie Bash at Disney’s California Adventure

Disneyland Resort’s after-hours ticketed Halloween event is called Oogie Boogie Bash and takes place typically on Sunday’s, Tuesday’s, and Thursday’s from late August through Halloween. This event takes place in Disney’s California Adventure and guests will need a ticket separate from their regular theme park admission to enter. Guests may enter the park at 3pm where they will receive a wristband, party map, and trick or treat bag. They are then free to explore the park before the party begins. Park guests without a ticket to the party will be asked to leave at 5pm with the party beginning at 6pm for those with tickets.

There are so many things to do at Oogie Boogie Bash including Trick or Treat Trails with a Character at the end, dance parties, party exclusive merchandise and food items, character meet and greets with rare characters, attractions with low wait times, entertainment, and my personal favorite – Villains Grove!

The parade at Oogie Boogie Bash, the Frightfully Fun Parade, is a really fun parade with Mickey and Minnie dressed up in their Halloween best. This is a great parade if you are a huge fan of Nightmare Before Christmas, Villains, or Haunted Mansion as they are heavily featured throughout the parade. The song that goes with the parade is incredibly catchy and it does get stuck in my head constantly! I love that it has both rare characters you do not normally see out like the Hitchhiking Ghosts and some of the more popular characters like the Evil Queen, Jack Skellington, and of course Minnie!

Something that Disneyland does that is not done at Walt Disney World is called Villain’s Grove. This is only able to be entered once the sun goes down and is a walk-through experience in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail area. The whole space is transformed into this magical land taken over by famous Disney villains like Scar and the Queen of Hearts. As you walk through, you may end up in Scar’s lair next to some hyenas or watching the roses being painted red in the Queen’s gardens. This is a highly interactive area and because it can only be experienced after dark, expect to spend a while waiting in line for this one – we waited for around 40 minutes.

Trick or Treat trails are a cool way to do trick or treating while also getting to have an experience with a character at the end. The concept is simple – you trick or treat at 3 buckets and get candy, fruit, goldfish crackers, Rice Krispie Treats, and so many other things. Then you walk a bit further into a themed area and there is the character for that area where you can interact and take photos with the character. This is not your traditional character meet and greet but it is a fun way to get candy and see a bunch of characters in your evening! We saw Agatha Harkness from WandaVision, Sid from Toy Story, Dr. Facilier from The Princess and the Frog, Mother Gothel from Tangled, and so many more characters!

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Disney’s Magic Kingdom

Walt Disney World Resort’s after-hours ticketed Halloween event is called Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and takes place typically on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from early August through Halloween. This event takes place in the Magic Kingdom and guests will need a ticket separate from their regular theme park admission to enter. Guests may enter the park at 4pm where they will receive a wristband, party map, and trick or treat bag. They are then free to explore the park before the party begins. Park guests without a party ticket will be asked to leave at 6pm with the party beginning at 7pm for those with tickets.

One of the main selling points for any Disney Parks after-hours events is that the rides will have short to no wait time. As seen here my best friend and I were able to walk on to The Haunted Mansion with no more than a 10-minute wait at 4:45pm on the party day with time to take pictures while in the queue!

Pro tip – if you ever see that Haunted Mansion or Tower of Terror is listed at 13 minutes for a wait time in your Disney app, that means it is a walk on and there is no wait!!

Now remember all the amazing things I said you could do at Oogie Boogie Bash? Well at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party you can do all of that and more. They have exclusive merchandise – but be warned it will sell out FAST! They have Trick or Treating – but you do not get to see a character at the end. Now the nighttime entertainment is absolutely worth the cost of the ticket alone. They have a parade, a fireworks spectacular, and my favorite – the Hocus Pocus Villains Spelltacular stage show.

Disney’s Boo to You Halloween Parade is by far one of the best parades in a Disney Park with the catchiest song that will be stuck in your head all night! There is pretty much every character you can imagine from Mickey and the gang to the Pirates of the Caribbean, to the Haunted Mansion, to the Halloween Hoedown, friends from Wreck It Ralph and Sugar Rush, and a Villains take over including Cruella De Vil, Ursula, the Queen of Hearts, Pain and Panic, and more!

This is a FULL parade, and it is a must see, so much so, that they normally show it twice in a night at the party!

Almost immediately after the parade is the Not So Spooky Spectacular, a spectacle of fireworks and projections on Cinderella Castle as Mickey and friends go trick or treating on Halloween and encounter some interesting characters on their night out. My best friend and I moved after the parade to get close to the castle stage so we could see things a bit closer and were impressed by how cool this show is! There is a life size Jack Skellington that narrates the beginning and end of the show, and I will just say this – no one does fireworks shows like Disney World!

The final show at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is by far my favorite of all the Halloween parties. I am a HUGE Hocus Pocus fan so when I saw they had a show with the Sanderson Sisters in it and they sing in it I could not wait to see it. This show features the Sanderson Sisters back again on Halloween Night – for one night and one night only – to make a potion for the best party with all their villainous friends. During the show appearances from Oogie Boogie, Dr. Facilier, Maleficent, Lady Tremaine, Jafar, Evil Queen, and more can be seen. But the highlight for me was listening to the fabulous Sanderson Sisters talking and singing their popular hits especially, I Put a Spell on You, which closes out the show. This shows multiple times throughout the night so if you miss it do not worry, you will be able to catch it again later in the evening!

The one thing about Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that we learned incredibly early in the evening is that you will not have enough time in one visit to do everything in one night or even close to half the things you want to do. You need to prioritize certain things over other things so if characters and trick or treating is your number one priority, then focus on that – but you do not want to miss the nighttime entertainment at this party!

Anyone can be a prince, princess, or even an Avenger!

You heard me right! ANYONE, no matter what age you are, can wear a costume at either of the Halloween parties – there are no age restrictions! One of Disney’s biggest rules is that only children twelve and under may wear costumes (like the cute princess dresses) during regular park hours and anyone over that age restriction may not wear costumes of any kind. You can do something called DisneyBounding which lets you wear an outfit that encompasses the spirit of the character but is not a recreation of their costume in any way. This could be a red and white polka dot dress with black Minnie ears and red bow for Minnie Mouse. However, during the Halloween parties at either park anyone can wear a costume no matter their age – which I think is one of the most important parts of these parties!

Both parties also change some of their rides over to a Halloween theme. Magic Kingdom does a Halloween version of the Mad Tea Party and California Adventure does a version of the Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout ride called Monsters After Dark – aka they turn all the lights completely off and when the doors open its just a giant monster attacking you (I am still sorry mom)!

Allyson’s Top Tips:

• Being able to wear costumes no matter the age is an amazing thing – do not be like me and wear a full long sleeve Ariel costume at the end of September in Florida! At both parties I went to I went in September and one of them was 100 degrees in California and the other was 90 degrees and humid in Florida. I was smart and changed my original costume in California to a tank top dress version of the character, but I did not follow my advice for Florida and I was DYING by the end of the night. Also wear comfortable shoes – do not wear cute shoes to match your outfit!
• When attending Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party – Prioritize what it is you absolutely must do because you will not have enough time to do it all in one night. We never got to meet any characters, only trick or treated 3 times, rode 5 rides the whole night (and 3 of them were before the party started), and we never ate any of the party exclusive food – in fact, the only food we had all night was a Mickey Premium Bar. We prioritized the shows/entertainment over anything else which took up nearly 3 hours of our party time so we could get a good spot. The character meet and greet line for Jack Skellington and Sally at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party can be up to 4 hours long – that is almost the entire party!!
• Arrive Early!! Guests can begin entering for party nights at either 3pm or 4pm depending on which party you go to – take advantage of this time and use it for the rides, eating food, shopping, and other things you can do during normal park hours that are not exclusive to the party. This way you will have more time for everything else once the party starts!

Final Thoughts

So which party was my favorite and which one would I suggest you do?

Well, honestly, I loved both parties a lot and think there is a ton to do at each – if Halloween is your favorite holiday like it is for me then I would check out either party. Having been to each party once, now I know what to do and what not to do. I want to be able to pass that experience on to my clients, so they get the most out of their party night – especially since it is an added experience. Halloweentime at Disney Parks is an absolute blast and whether it is spent celebrating at Disneyland Resort in California or Walt Disney World Resort in Florida the season of chills and thrills is best spent at a Disney Park.

No matter whether you choose to boogie with Oogie or get not so scary with Mickey, Allyson will make sure it is a night you will never forget! Reach out to her to plan your Halloweentime Disney vacation today!

Written by Allyson Genereux

Travel Agent at Blue Shore Vacaitons

allysong@blueshorevacations.com